Happy Birthday Nanao
by Dark Pulsar
Summary: Just a quick little one-shot about Nanao/Shunsui. Written in celebration for Nanao's birthday.


Quick note before the story: Today, July 7th, happens to be Nanao's birthday, so I got the idea and wanted to write a little Shunsui/Nanao fic to wish her a happy birthday, and here it is. As usual, Bleach does not belong to me, and I make no claims to the contrary. Mr. Kubo made the sandbox and I'm just playing in it. That said, I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Nanao Ise lay sleeping peacefully in her chambers. Her bed was uncharacteristically lavish. She had handfuls of pillows strewn about as she slumbered beneath her feathery blankets. If anyone were to have seen her bedroom, they might not believe it was hers. Sure, it was filled with many books. She actually had two bookshelves stuffed completely full. And there was a work desk in the corner, a nightstand next to the bed, which at the moment housed her glasses, alarm clock, and lamp. The disbelief however, would come at the organization of the room. There wasn't any. Pillows tossed all over, blankets rumpled and tousled, books strewn about the room, papers in a disheveled mess on the desk. It was nothing like Nanao. Or so they all thought.

The alarm clock rang at precisely six a.m. as it did every morning. She wanted to get to the office early, and enjoy the peace and sunrise in solitude, not to mention get some work done. If any work was to be done in the Eighth division, it would have to be before noon, when her captain would stumble in drunk and start some party. It was a huge headache.

Nanao rolled gently over onto her side, pushing the blankets off her slender frame, as she stood up and padded softly over to her nightstand. She turned off the alarm, and lit the lamp, pulling on her glasses. She walked softly over to her closet, picked out a set of robes for the day, and set them on her bed. Grabbing a towel, she headed towards the bathroom, ready to shower and begin the day.

Just like every other day. Nanao followed her morning routine, completely unaware of what today was. And how utterly un-routine the day would be.

* * *

Nanao thought she heard voices as she stepped into the office headquarters of her division. (_Impossible...who would be here at this hour_?) she thought.

"Oi, Nanao-chan! Is that you?"

Nanao had to catch herself from stumbling, shocked beyond words. Her captain was up? It must be her imagination. There's no way that he would be up at this hour, unless...

"Captain, you really mustn't drink the night away like this and forget to go home. Come on, you're still drunk...I'll take you home." she said with a resigned sigh.

"Ah, my Nanao-chan takes such good care of me! But I am not drunk Nanao." An amused grin crossed his features as her surveyed his lieutenant. Nanao inwardly noted that the way his eyes lit up when he said her name, how handsome he was as he smiled, took her breath away. (_He's not drunk? Then, he must have done something even worse than usual if he was up this early to apologize_.) Her features hardened as she considered the possibilities, each worse than the last.

"What did you do this time?" she asked with a steely voice, and a glare that could melt Hyourinmaru. "Did you kill someone? Burn down the division library?" she frantically thought.

"Nanao-chan is so suspicious of me! You wound me, Nanao. I haven't done anything wrong." He grinned again, and her features softened. It really wasn't fair. She felt like every time he smiled at her, her heart melted. And she hated him for it. She'd do anything for him, and she knew it. A simple smile and she was his. She _wanted_ to be his. But she would never let herself. She knew that she was nothing to him. _(Just another conquest,)_ she thought. She loved him with all her heart, which made being around him and his teasing nearly unbearable. She chastised him for it all the time. In the beginning, she truly didn't like it. Now, she didn't think she could do without it. Her chastisements of him for it became weaker and weaker, until finally her heart wasn't in it at all. Something about him calling her _"HIS Nanao-chan"_ for so long, and she so desperately wanted it to be true, and she simply couldn't bring herself to stop it anymore.

"Oi, Nanao-chan, are you alright?" he asked concernedly.

"Yes, fine. Just fine." she rushed out. A slight pinkening of her cheeks perhaps betraying her thoughts, she quickly changed the subject. "Then if you haven't done anything wrong, why are you here? Surely you know it's only 7:15 now, and unless you simply haven't gone to bed yet, or you haven't done something so awful that you felt the need to apologize to me for as soon as I woke, I see no reason for why you would be here."

"Ah, I see. You want to know why I'm here then?"

"Well deduced, Captain. However did you figure _that_ one out?" she mumbled as she rolled her eyes, striding over to her desk and sitting herself down. She heard him let out a hearty laugh.

"Oh how I love a woman with a sense of humor!" he chuckled lightly. Then, she noticed, he turned serious, eyes boring directly into hers. With a quick flash step, she had no time to react, as he was standing behind her chair, his hands on her shoulders, massaging her. Her body instantly relaxed under his touch, her head dropping forward, and her shoulders slumping. She felt his breath on her neck, and then over to her ear. She had to fight back a moan, as he sent shivers down her spine. He pressed his lips right next to her ear, and whispered to her.

"I am here, Nanao-chan, for you." He felt her tense at his words, quickly deciding to change the mood before he mucked up his plans for the day. "Let's go out, we're taking the day off." It must have worked, because her response was back to their usual playful banter.

"You can take the day off, I have work to do. Actually, you take every day off. Leave me a note if you decide to step in and do some work. Otherwise I'll just assume you'll be out of the office drinking somewhere."

"Funny, my lovely, beautiful Nanao-chan, but you're coming with me. I have big plans for today!" he grinned as he swept her up into his arms, and flashed out of the office.

* * *

Nanao couldn't remember the last time she'd had a day as wonderful as this. She spent the entire day with her Captain, and he didn't have so much as a sip of alcohol the entire time. He took her shopping in the morning, all morning in fact, until noon, when he treated her to lunch. She actually had a meaningful, intellectual discussion with him over their meal too. She of course knew that her captain was much more than he let on, but even she was surprised at the level of insight he was able to offer her. His ideas had run out after lunch, so he simply asked what she wanted to do with the rest of her day, insisting only that he be allowed to come along. She figured she owed him as much, with all of his money she'd spent that morning. They took in a movie after dinner, and now here they were.

"I love the sunset. I come up here every night to watch." she said, trying to make conversation. The silences they shared were not at all awkward; she wasn't trying to avoid it. She simply wanted to talk.

"I know." was his lazy reply.

"It's so beautiful, don't you think?" He tipped his hat back so she could look into his eyes. He looked right at her, smiling.

"Beautiful indeed." She looked away, trying frantically to hide the blush that rose to her cheeks.

"Thank you."

"For what, Nanao-chan?"

"For today. I...had a wonderful time. For everything." She stood up, brushing off her clothes. "It's late, I need to get home." She heard him standing up behind her, felt him approaching. She felt his hands on her shoulders, trying to turn her around to face him. She relented, determined not to look up into his eyes. The whole situation was far too romantic, and she really didn't want to do something she'd end up regretting.

So she turned to face him, resolved not to look him in the eyes. And then he cupped her chin in his hand, gently lifting her face upwards. Before she knew what was happening, she was lost in those warm, chocolate orbs, and all rational thought left her head. She was blushing madly, but couldn't bring herself to look away. Her glasses had slid down to the tip of her nose; she only vaguely noticed his index finger pushing them back up for her. And then he spoke, with his rich, warm, soothing deep voice. She bit back a whimper.

"You're welcome. You aren't the only one who enjoyed yourself. Good night my lovely, beautiful Nanao-chan." And then it happened. He slowly lowered his face to hers, his lips inching ever closer. Her eyes closed as she waited with anticipation. (_Just this once...I'll give in,)_ she thought. His lips brushed against hers, as they shared their first kiss. It was everything Nanao had hoped it would be. He was soft and gentle, warm, but not pushy. Everything was just right. She found herself wanting for more as he pulled away, but she was still too riveted to where she stood to move.

"Happy birthday, my Nanao-chan." And he flashed away. Moments later she let out an unfeminine snort. _(...I forgot my own birthday.)_

* * *

And that's that. I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave some feedback, positive or negative. Criticism is fine, I'd like to improve, so be honest! Constructive criticismgood, needless flamesbad. Anyways, thanks!


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